Spray nozzle



. May 21, 1957 SPRAY NOZZLE Driginal Filed April 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR." M 7M, m Mr. M

,IMIQ ATTORNEY T. TINKER 2,793,081 r SPRAY NOZZLE Townsend Tinker, Orchard Park, N. Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware 3 Claims. (Cl. 299-140) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in spray nozzles whereby a liquid is discharged from the nozzle in a fine spray.

One object of this invention is to provide a spray nozzle structure of new and improved construction which is simply and easily constructed and assembled.

Another object is to provide a mixing device for thoroughly blending a gas and a liquid.

Another object is to provide an improved spray nozzle utilizing a gas jet to atomize a stream of liquid.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for varying the quantity and the size of the particles of the liquid in the spray by varying either the pressure of the gas or the pressure of the liquid or both.

Another object of the invention is to vary by mechanical means the quantity and the size of the spray particles by varying the volume of liquid through which the gas must pass within the nozzle.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description, the drawings to which it relates, and the claims hereinafter set forth.

This invention comprises the new and improved construction and combination of parts and their operating relation to each other which will be more fully described hereinafter, and the novelty of which will be particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed.

in the accompanying drawings, to be taken as part of the specification, there are fully and clearly illustrated several preferred embodiments of the invention, in which drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the nozzle taken along the line 1-1 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 2 is a view of the discharge end of the nozzle,

Fig. 3 is an end view similar to Fig. 2, but with the outlet cap of the nozzle removed,

Fig. 4 is a detail view in section of part of a nozzle like that of Fig. 1, but showing an annular spacer member to vary the distance between the body of the nozzle and the cap,

Fig. 5 is a view in longitudinal section of another form of nozzle showing a mechanical means for varying the distance between the body of the nozzle and the cap, and

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of still another form of the nozzle showing an arrangement of the gas outlet orifice and the spray orifice to permit their alignment through all degrees of variation.

Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference and more particularly to Fig. 1, there is shown a nozzle comprised of a cylindrical casing 1 and a conical outlet cap member 2. The casing 1 has a cylindrically recessed inlet with threaded openings 3 and 4 receiving concentric conducting means or pipes 5 and 6. The opening 3 provides an internal chamber 6 having an end wall 7 which forms with the opening 4 an annular shoulder. Through the end wall 7 extend the opening 4 and a plurality of apertures 8 which are equi-spaced from each other and located on a common circle. The casing 1 has an annular plane edge portion 9 and a conical central pornited States Patent 0 tion 10 through which opens a conically shaped or outwardly flaring passageway extension 4 of the central threaded opening 4. The cap member 2 has an annular flange portion 11 forming an internal side wall 11 and having a plane surface which seats on the plane annular edge portion 9 of the casing 1 and is secured thereto by a plurality of bolts 15. The cap member 2 has a flat internal central portion 12 from which an annular surrounding conical portion 12 extends to the wall 11, said wall spacing the inner conical wall surface 12 from the conical casing surface 10. The cap member 2 cooperates with the casing 1 to provide a chamber having spaced conical wall surfaces 10 and 12* which define an annular conical cavity or portion 13 which is open to the pipe 6 through the opening 4 The apertures 8 which open through the end wall 7 have reduced diameter extended nozzle portions or jets 14 which open through the conical surface 10 substantially normal thereto. The cap member 2 has a plurality of apertures 16 opening therethrough which are enlarged relative to the jets 14 and are substantially normal to the conical surface Operation In operation, this'form of the invention functions gen erally as follows and will be described as using water and air as the gas and liquid, respectively:

Water to be atomized is supplied through the pipe 6 and opening 4 under pressure into the annular cavity 13 between the nozzle casing 1 and cap member 2. Air, under pressure, is supplied through the annular space between pipes 5 and 6 into the apertures 8 and is discharged at high velocity through the reduced nozzle or jet apertures 14. The air under pressure then passes as fine unrestricted jets through the film of water in cavity 13. The jets of air passing through the cavity 13 cause an air and water mixture under confined pressure to discharge from the nozzle through the apertures 16. As the air and water mixture is discharged from the nozzle into a space of reduced pressure, the air is suddenly expanded by the sudden decrease in pressure and the water is torn into a fine mist by the sudden expansion.

To vary the consistency of the spray without mechanical adjustment, either the water or the air pressure or both may be varied. With the air pressure constant, a decrease of the water pressure will decrease the amount of water available or supplied per unit of time to cavity 13, and increase the ratio between the air passing from the jet apertures 14 to the cap apertures 16 and the quantity of water flowing into the cavity 13, thereby caus ing the spray to be of a very fine consistency and in the form of a mist. Increasing the pressure of the water increases the amount available to cavity 13, thereby reducing the jet air to water ratio and causing the spray to have a coarse consistency. It will be noted that with the air pressure constant, the volume of water sprayed is substantially directly proportional to the consistency of the spray. With a small volume of water, i. e., low pressure, the spray is very fine. With the volume of water large, i. e., high pressure, the spray is very coarse. The limitation on the fineness of the spray is the pressure and volume of zero. The limitation on the coarseness of the spray is the pressure being equal to or slightly greater than the constant air pressure, at which point a solid stream of water will leave each of the apertures 16.

The above stated variations of the consistency of the spray are an important improvement over nozzle devices which use only water pressure to atomize the spray, because in such devices a decrease in the volume of the water would decrease the fineness of the spray and when ina solid stream or large'droplets. However, the nozzle described in this invention permits even a small volume of water at a low pressure to be emitted as a fine spray from the apertures.

With the water pressure constant, the consistency of the spray can be varied in a similar manner by the variation of the air pressure. The fineness of the spray will be variedsubstantially inversely proportional to the air pressure. Also, to obtain an optimum volume of flow at a given consistency of spray, both the air and water pressure'may be varied to obtain these conditions.

To vary the consistency of the spray by mechanical adjustment, there are several means described which are not to be understood as the only means of mechanical adjustment, but only as general illustrative means. The

purpose of the mechanical adjustment is to permit the consistency of the spray to be varied while the air and 1 water pressure remain constant.

In Fig. 4, a variation of the above-described nozzle may be accomplished by the addition of a suitable annular spacer member or washer 17 of predetermined thickness positioned between peripheral plane edge portion 9 of the casing 1 and cap flange 11. The insertion of this washer increases the thickness of the sheet or the film of water in cavity 13 which therefore increases the coarseness of the spray. The annular washer 17 may be incompressible, but is preferably rubber or other compressible sealing material and is so constructed as to have an outer diameter substantially equal to' the outer diameter of easing 1 and an inner diameter substantially equal to the inner diameter of the flange .11, on cap 2 and'to have a plurality of apertures which are suitably spaced and aligned to receive the mounting screws,- as bolts 15. Since the member 17 is compressible, the thickness of the annular cavity 13 or spacing of the cap and body members from each other may be adjusted by the screws 15 to a predetermined thickness or dimension.

In'Fig. 5 is shown another variation whereby a conical cap 102 is secured to casing 101 by means of a plurality of bolts 115 extending through casing 101 and cap 102. The apertures 118 in cap 102 are threaded so that the distance between apertures 114 in casing 101 and apertures 116 in the conical cap 102 may be varied by the rotation of bolts 115. A rubber 0 ring 119 is inserted in a peripheral groove 120 in casing 101 to seal against ba-ckfiow between casing 101 and the longitudinally extending rim 121 of the cap member 102'. All other parts in Fig.5 bear the same relation as in Fig. 1 and are assigned the numbers used in Fig. I raised by one hundred.

In Fig. 5, the consistency of the spray maybe varied by the mechanical adjustment of bolts 115 which will move conical cap 102 on its longitudinal axis and thereby vary the size of cavity 113or thedistance between the apertures 114 and 116 so as to increase or decreasethe thickness of the film of water in cavity 113 through which the air blast from jets 114 must travel. An increase in the size of the cavity 113 will increase the quantity of water discharged at a fixed air pressure and thus will produce a heavier and coarser spray. noted that a limitation of movement of cap 102 is required for satisfactory operation of the nozzle when apertures 114 and apertures 116 'are aligned on an axis normal to the outer face of cap .102 since movement of cap 102 beyond the limits of alignment of apertures 104 and apertures 116 will cause the air stream to strike the edge of the apertures 116 instead. of blowing through said apertures.

It should beynoted that in the forms of invention illustrated in Figsrl to 5; the apertures for discharge of the,

This

It should be An interference 4 agglomeration of the fine droplets or mist into larger dropletswhich reduce the efiiciency of the spray.

In Fig. 6, another variation is shown which is identical with Fig. 5 except that apertures 114 in casing 101 and apertures 116 in conical cap 102 are constructed on the same axis, which is parallel to the fiow of water through pipe 105.

In Fig. 6, the consistency of the spray may be varied in the identical manner as in Fig. 5, by the mechanical adjustment of bolts which will move the cap 102 on its-longitudinal aXisand thereby vary the size of cavity 113 so as to increase or decrease the fineness of the spray. It should be noted that the limitation of movement of cap 102 for satisfactory operation of the nozzle due to the alignment of apertures 114 and 116 has been remedied by the construction of said apertures on same axis which is parallel to the flow of water through pipe 106. This permits said apertures to remain aligned through all degrees of movement of cap 102. In this modification, however, with parallel sprays, there is a tendency for interference between the various sprays which may not be desirable in certain applications.

While there have been several embodiments of this invention illustrated and described, it will be obvious to the artisan that other embodiments are possible without departing from the scope and intent of the invention which is to be limited only by the appended claims.

This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 280,759, filed April 5, 1952, for Spray Nozzle, now Patent No. 2,678,236.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a spray nozzle, a body member having a conical end surface and a small longitudinal opening therethrough, said body member having a larger opening extending partially therethrough and forming a shoulder therein, said small opening being adapted to receive a liquid conducting pipe, said larger opening being adapted to receive a compressed air conducting pipe, a cap member having a conical end wall, said cap member being secured to said body member with said conical end surface and said conical end wall spaced to provide a conical cavity, said body member having a plurality of spaced passages extending through said shoulder into said conical cavity, the outletends of said passages being very small and opening through said body member conical surface substantially normal thereto, said cap member having a plurality of spaced apertures therethrough and substantially normal to the conical surface thereof, said apertures being substantially larger than the outlet ends of said body member passages, said passage outlet ends and said apertures being aligned for divergent discharge of compressed air throughsaid conical cavity and said apertures for atomizing liquid therein, said apertures being spaced circumferentially. from each other a distance sufficient to prevent substantial interference between adjacent streams of atomized liquid, and means for adjusting the relative position of saidbody and cap members to vary the distance between said conical end surface and said conical end wall.

2. In a spray nozzle, cylindrical body member having at one end a conical end surface and an annular plane surface, said body member having a small longitudinal opening. therethrough and a larger opening extending partially therethrough and forming therewith an internal shoulder, said small opening being adapted to receive a liquid conducting pipe, said larger opening being adapted toreceive a compressed air conducting pipe, a cap memher having a conical end wall and an annular plane surface, said cap member having an annular flanged rim portion, means securing said cap member to said body member with said flanged rim portion extending around said body member and said cap member annular plane surface being adjacent to said body member annular plane surface, said cap and body members being spaced to provide a conical cavity between said body member conical end surface and said cap member conical end wall, said cap member having an interior flattened end wall portion operable to direct the flow of liquid into said cavity, said small longitudinal opening having a flared end portion opening into said cavity, said body member having a plurality of passages extending longitudinally partially through said shoulder, a plurality of small jet apertures opening from said passages through said body member conical surface substantially normal therethrough, said cap member having a plurality of apertures extending through the conical end wall thereof and substantially normal thereto, said cap member apertures being substantially larger than said jet apertures and being aligned therewith for divergent discharge of compressed air through said cavity and said larger apertures for atomizing liquid therein, said cap member apertures being spaced circumferentially from each other a sutficient distance to prevent substantial interference between adjacent streams of atomizing liquid, and means to hold said apertures in alignment and to adjust the relative position of said body and cap members to vary the distance between said body member conical end surface and said cap member conical end wall.

3. In a spray nozzle, a body member having a conical end surface and a small longitudinal opening therethrough and having an annular plane surface surrounding said end surface, said body member having a larger opening extending partially therethrough and forming a shoulder therein, said small opening being adapted to receive a liquid conducting pipe, said larger opening being adapted to receive a compressed air conducting pipe, a cap member having a conical end Wall with a surrounding annular plane surface, said cap member being secured to said body member at its periphery with said plane surfaces in opposed relation and with said conical end surface and said conical end Wall spaced to provide an annular conical cavity, said body member having a plurality of spaced apertures extending through said shoulder to said conical surface, said cap member having a plurality of spaced apertures therethrough aligned with said first named apertures for discharge of compressed air through said conical cavity for atomizing liquid therein, a plurality of threaded adjustment members extending through said plane surfaces and operable to adjust the spacing of said cap member from said body member, said adjustment members holding said first and said second named apertures in alignment during such adjustment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 217,259 Bradley July 8, 1879 861,662 Lassoe e July 30, 1907 1,554,788 Corwin Sept. 22, 1925 1,952,236 Clawson Mar. 27, 1934 2,645,527 Walters July 14, 1953 

